#another couple of milestones for Juan

[dinosaurwithablog]

It was a big day for Juan Soto!! Today, Juan not only hit a great home run, but he got his 200th homer of his career, and by hitting that home run in T Mobile Park, he has now hit a homer in every ballpark in the country!!! Spectacular, Juan!! The greatest thing about this to me is that it got to see it in person!!! It was a great game!! Let's go Yankees!!!!!

[felipesmithart]

NPOC Creator of the Week: Felipe Smith

By Andrea Merodeadora of Nerdy POC

Felipe Smith is a rarity in the comic world. Not just because he’s a Latino who started his career in manga (which is rare enough) but because honestly, his style is refreshingly weird as hell. Born in Ohio but raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Felipe graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and with a professional career that’s taken him from Los Angeles to Tokyo, the Jamaican-Argentinian artist and writer has always had an unique vision and highly personal style. His stories, from the autobiographical MBQ to Marvel’s All-New Ghost Rider, all combine a sort of ‘slice of life’ narrative full of character insight and incisive commentary alongside over-the-top action and fantasy elements- all without missing a beat. In an interview with Comics Alliance, Felipe explains that, because his work “wasn’t geared towards kids or a core fan base of a certain genre” he initially saw nothing but rejections from publishers. 

So Smith turned to manga, attracted by the creative freedom of the genre, and decided to teach himself Japanese so he’d be able to enter the market. In the span of a couple years, all while working restaurant jobs, drawing, and learning a whole new language, Smith won second place in a manga contest, which allowed him to publish his three-volume semi-autobiographical comic MBQ. The story follows an aspiring LA illustrator who works minimum wage and struggles under the weight of college debt while trying to get published in an industry that’s not very welcoming to originality. Comixology’s review of MBQ takes an in-depth look into how it shines for its realism, its uniqueness and its great narrative pacing.

Even though, as Smith himself puts it, “at the time people were saying that [he] didn’t know what [he] was talking about — that the kind of work that [he] did was not manga, and it didn’t look like anything they considered manga from Japan — ” the buzz surrounding MBQ reached a publishing agent who put Felipe in touch with the Japanese publishing company Kodansha.

Felipe moved to Tokyo, where he wrote, translated, illustrated, colored and shaded his three-volumes graphic novel Peepo Choo with the aid of only one assistant. He then went on to become the first Western creator to have his manga published in Japan, in Japanese, before getting an English edition. That’s no small feat for anyone, but for an Afro-Latino creator at the beginning of his career to break this barrier with a comic like Peepo Choo was a milestone never seen before.

Peepo Choo is no ordinary manga either. Felipe’s work broke stylistic, narrative and even thematic boundaries. Like MBQ, Peepo Choo has a self-referential element of sorts in its protagonist, Milton, a Black American kid in love with manga and animé. The story revolves around the conflict between manga and comics, as well as a juxtaposition between Yakuza and Chicago gangs. All these elements eventually form an often unseen critique of the Western fetishization of Japanese culture, and its resulting “weeaboo” fanbases.

Smith returned to the United States to work as a character designer for Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 2012. In his time back, however, he was called upon by Marvel to spearhead their new Ghost Rider concept. He was wary at first, as he “didn’t think [a lot of the stuff that had been done with the Ghost Rider in the past] was the best out there”- but Marvel only had two conditions for his story: the new Ghost Rider had to be under thirty, and he had to drive a car instead of a bike.

So Felipe introduced Robbie Reyes, a Mexican-American high schooler from Los Angeles who was raising his younger brother Gabe on his own. Like his previous works, Smith wanted to ground the story in reality. Talking with The Marvel Report, he explained that he developed Robbie based on his own experiences and what made the most sense in the cultural setting of LA. He knew that growing up in a Latin American country and speaking Spanish would allow him to write a more believable Latinx character, and “since the largest Latino demographic in LA is Mexican, it made more than perfect sense for Robbie Reyes to be Mexican-American.”

All-New Ghost Rider took the Ghost Rider into a completely new direction (and, let’s be real, made the mantle cool again). Smith moved the anti-hero to the other end of the country, reinvented the inner workings of his powers, and even got him on the cover of Lowrider Magazine. Felipe’s run was praised for its compelling characters, its portrayal of disability, its excellent story, and for Trad Moore’s bold art style.

All-New Ghost Rider’s run wasn’t as long as it deserved to be, but Marvel and Smith agreed on him coming back for another book, a crossover event titled Ghost Racers. There, with Argentinian illustrator Juan Gedeon taking lead on the art and Smith on the story, Robbie Reyes got to meet Johnny Blaze, one of Felipe’s favorite characters as a teenager. Soon after, less than two years after his print-debut, Robbie Reyes was adapted for the small screen in season 4 of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (portrayed by Gabriel Luna).

Now, after two collaborative projects for Marvel Comics, Smith goes back to what he does best, and what he does best is whatever he wants. “That’s why I got to writing in the first place”, he said at Long Beach Comic Con, explaining that he “realized that the kinda stories that [he] wanted to draw were not being written by anybody.”

Felipe is currently developing an action/ horror graphic novel about zombie cops (or cop zombies, It’s really confusing.) Set in LA, Death Metal Zombie Cop follows two police officers navigating a corrupt institution, and an increasingly supernatural string of crimes.

After a successful kickstarter, DMZC should be available for pre-order soon. Until then, we recommend picking up his previous works, and following him on twitter for future updates.

[thisdaynews]

BREAKING:Trump Wins Florida, Locked In Other Tight Races With Biden.

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/breakingtrump-wins-florida-locked-in-other-tight-races-with-biden/

BREAKING:Trump Wins Florida, Locked In Other Tight Races With Biden.

Trump additionally guaranteeing the landmarks of Ohio and Iowa while Biden won Minnesota and Iowa, two unassuming prizes the president had would have liked to take.

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Races were too soon to bring in some of other savagely challenged and basic states on the guide, including North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania. The president, by early Wednesday, had held numerous states he won in 2016 and, as since quite a while ago anticipated, the race to some degree appeared to lay on the three northern modern states where Trump most shocked the Democrats long term back Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

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Biden, quickly showing up before allies in Delaware, asked persistence, saying the political decision “ain’t over until each vote is checked, each polling form is tallied.”

“It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to announce who’s won this political race,” Biden said. “That is the choice of the American public.”

Trump additionally tweeted that he planned to say something.

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A great many citizens overcame their stresses over the infection — and some long queues — to turn out face to face, joining 102 million individual Americans who casted a ballot days or weeks sooner, a record number that spoke to 73% of the absolute vote in the 2016 official political decision.

Early outcomes in a few important landmark states were in motion as political decision authorities prepared a truly enormous number of mail-in votes. Leftists regularly outflank Republicans in mail casting a ballot, while the GOP hopes to make up ground in Election Day turnout. That implies the early edges between the competitors could be impacted by which sort of votes — early or Election Day — were being accounted for by the states.

Florida was the greatest, wildly challenged milestone on the guide, with the two missions engaging over its 29 Electoral College votes.

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Trump received Florida as his new home state, charmed its Latino people group, especially Cuban-Americans, and held meetings there unremittingly. As far as concerns him, Biden sent his top substitute — President Barack Obama — there twice in the mission’s end days and profited by a $100 million vow in the state from Michael Bloomberg.

Control of the Senate was in question, as well: Democrats expected to net three seats if Biden caught the White House to oversee all of Washington without precedent for 10 years. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky won re-appointment in an early triumph for the Republicans, and GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a nearby Trump partner, fended off a furious test to cling to his seat.

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The gatherings exchanged a couple of seats other early outcomes: Democratic previous Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper vanquished officeholder Sen. Cory Gardner, and in Alabama Republican Tommy Tuberville knocked off Sen. Doug Jones. The House was required to stay under Democratic control.

As the outcomes came in, the country prepared for what was to come — and a result that probably won’t be known for quite a long time.

Biden was watching from home with family and close helpers. Trump was watching the outcomes come in with a little gathering of partners in the White House home as other staff and guides drifted between a gathering at the White House living arrangement and different workplaces all through the chief manor complex.

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Outside, another enemy of scaling wall was raised around the White House, and in midtowns from New York to Denver to Minneapolis, laborers barricaded organizations in case the vote lead to agitation.

With the most exceedingly awful general wellbeing emergency in a century still furiously present, the pandemic — and Trump’s treatment of it — was the certain concentration for 2020.

For Trump, the political decision remained as a judgment on his four years in office, a term wherein he twisted Washington to his will, tested confidence in its establishments and changed how America was seen over the globe. Seldom attempting to join a nation partitioned along lines of race and class, he has regularly gone about as a radical against the administration he drove while sabotaging the country’s researchers, organization and media.

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Biden went through the day a minute ago battling in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he was conceived, and in Philadelphia with several neighborhood stops in Wilmington, Delaware, where he was spending Election Night.

The energy from early democratic conveyed into Election Day, as an invigorated electorate created long queues at surveying locales all through the nation. Turnout was higher than in 2016 in various districts, including the entirety of Florida, practically every area in North Carolina and in excess of 100 areas in both Georgia and Texas. That count appeared sure to increment as more districts detailed their turnout figures.

Electors overcame stresses of the Covid, dangers of surveying place terrorizing and desires for long queues brought about by changes to casting a ballot frameworks, yet seemed determined as turnout showed up it would effortlessly outperform the 139 million voting forms cast four years back.

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No serious issues emerged on Tuesday, outside the average glitches of an official political decision: Some surveying places opened late, robocalls gave bogus data to electors in Iowa and Michigan, and machines or programming failed in certain districts in the milestone conditions of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Texas.

The online protection organization at the Department of Homeland Security said there were no outward signs by noontime of any noxious action.

The record-setting early vote — and lawful skirmishing over how it would be checked — drew unsupported claims of misrepresentation from Trump, who had consistently wouldn’t ensure he would respect the political decision’s outcome.

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Jaffe detailed from Wilmington, Delaware. Mill operator detailed from Washington. Related Press essayists Robert Burns, Kevin Freking, Aamer Madhani, Deb Riechmann and Will Weissert in Washington, Bill Barrow and Haleluya Hadero in Atlanta, Jeff Martin in Cobb County, Georgia, Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Juan Lozano in Houston, Corey Williams in West Bloomfield, Michigan, Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, and Natalie Pompilio added to this report.

[lbat1901]

2019 Review

I’ve never posted an end year review on Tumblr. I only post on either Facebook and DA, buuuuut it’s time for a change.

Also I couldn’t decide whether or not to separate it into two parts. I decided to say f**k it and post the whole thing.

Anyway, welcome to the first ever year end review where I recap 2019. Just a side note, I am doing this so you won’t have to. Also there a lot of ranting in this.

Quick thing to know is that I can become very brutal when comes to ranting. Trust me they’re not pretty. Oh and I tend write these things like at either towards the end of June and mid July about the stuff that just happened before coming back to it in late October and early November while adding even more information. That’s how things work.

Anyway with that out of the way, I present to you, Lbat1901’s review of 2019 broadcasted worldwide on this day of December 31st (or either the 1st of January and/or December 30th depending on your timezone).

2018 was a good year despite a few thing here and there. Now 2019 was a tad bit better but we lost the OG actor of Chewbacca from Star Wars. Well this isn’t a bad thing, there’s another actor to play the part.

If deaths weren’t always there to make a year bad, then it would be a person’s own downfall. I’m talking about the downfall of the one and only ProJared. Oh god….when I heard the news that he and his wife were filing for a divorce, it wasn’t good at all. Well it was bad at first, but it got worse when his ex-wife stated that he cheated on her. That took me by surprise, but I was all like: “Ah well. Things can’t get any worse than that, right?”. Unfortunately things did got much much worse.

ProJared was reported for doing some sexual activity on Tumblr. He actually DMed a minor and said some explicit stuff to them. Oh boy….that was a shocker. Due to this, everyone and his fans couldn’t find it in their hearts to forgive him. By the way ProJared at the time reached the milestone of 1,000,000 subscribers. That…later went down. A couple of months later, ProJared posted an apology on Twitter which didn’t make any sense. In reality doing that kind of stuff like that could land you in some legal troubles and you won’t be able to recover from it.

It really sucks and it hurts me a lot when it should be considered that ProJared is one of my favorite gaming channels on YouTube and one of my inspirations for all that sweet comedy gold. His videos are so good along his random commentary and jokes. Plus him working together with PeanutButterGamer, another YouTuber that I like, gave out some great positive vibes of collaboration. It’s going to take me a very long time to get over this and find it in my heart to accept his apology, but for now, I’m taking a break from ProJared.

…Aye I’m just kidding! It turns out that in late August, he uploaded a video explaining what really happened which means I can forgive him. I rate ProJared’s explanation video: “a fixed reputation out of 10.”

Another thing that happened was the suicide of another well known YouTuber that I like, that goes by the name of Etika. You see Etika is known for his reaction video especially when it comes to stuff like Nintendo such as Smash Bros. His DLC reveal reactions were priceless and hilarious. At the time, I never knew he had mental issues since it wasn’t clear onto why he always acts up giving off this destructive behavior. I’ve always believed that he did this for to be funny, but now I look back at it, his reactions were a bit too much. Shockingly before his death, he was went to some mental place and even came out from suffering from depression.

Soon afterwards, his family and his fans all reached out to him, but Etika pushed them all to the side. After that, he released a video saying how sorry his was shortly before he took his own life out. When I first heard about it from IGN, I didn’t believe it. But after awhile it turned out to be true. Etika really did killed himself.

I’ll say this once: killing yourself isn’t an option. Sure it maybe a solution to end your problems but in reality it makes everyone around you fall in deep despair. This is coming from a person who had depression in the past along with some forms of PTSD and schizophrenia. If you’re suffering from depression don’t turn down help. There’s always a light at the end of tunnel waiting for you to go towards it. Don’t stop waking to it. And Etika if you’re reading this, from wherever you might be, I hope you’re doing better than you were before since your now considered to be free from your troubles. All of us are going to see you again. Even though I haven’t meant you in person, you’re still a cool guy to me. Stay awesome.

Okay enough of the heavy feels. You all know what’s coming up next. It’s the part where I rant about the things that have happened this year. And hey, new people, you get to have a front row seat for this. The ranting part always gets my reviews a whole lotta views, making them somewhat popular. Here we go!

Alright…I’ll get this part out the way. Is it just me or was it that January 2019 was a very painful month to get through? No? If you’re living in a part where it’s warm everyday for the full entire year, good for you. You don’t have to suffer. But….can we like trade places? I want 90 degree weather all year long. Why you such lucky things. January, according to parts of the world that snow, is considered to be one of the slowest yet worst months of the year. Plus it doesn’t help that fact that it’s still winter and it’s the first month. I have always believed that January is a very slow month, but January 2019….oh my lord, it was brutally slow. Also January is also known to be the month of severe depression since nobody can hold onto their New Year resolution.

January 2019 felt like a drag. Plus I was still lingering to some of my depression after trying to recover from it after November 2018. It was a really bad time for me even though November is usually fast, but it felt I was being stabbed repeatedly. January 2019 was no different. Oh and don’t come to me stating that February comes after January and that it’s a fast month. That is true, but 2019 had to drug up February with depression pills making that a month of total despair. At least once it hit March 2019 things got better and much smoother.

January and February 2019, umm…what the f**k happened to you? January, I don’t expect anything magical about you, but February 2019, my god, you were supposed to be a better month. You had one job and failed at it that’s for sure.

This year’s review would like to take the attention and put it on Venezuela for once. During the first half of the year, many countries around the world has talked about the crisis in Venezuela. Venezuela is known to be a country in South America to have an oil industry which helps the country be successful. The current president is Nicolás Maduro and let’s be honest here, he’s a horrible person. Why? It’s because all of the things that he has done were quite questionable and he has said some controversial things mostly being related to storages. So far there has been several riots, people getting killed in some of those riots, nobody can get any food or medication due to power outages. It continues to get worse as time goes by. Most Venezuelans fled the country because it becoming a sh*thole and I don’t blame them. I would be fleeing from the country too if I can’t get anything. As I said before, countries around the world have been talking about the issues happening in Venezuela. There are some countries that support Maduro while other countries such as the US supports Juan Guaidó who vows to oppose Maduro. This kinda triggers the 2019 presidential crisis in Venezuela; however Guaidó has been given support by 54 countries as of June 2019. Although there is some competition, nobody should be getting in the way since this is Venezuela’s fight and it’s basically their freedom of speech. They must fight the powers that be.

What’s coming up next is something that I refuse to ignore. Article 13 getting passed. You heard that right folks, they did it. They actually f**king did it. In March 2019, the EU were having a debation on whenever or not to pass Article 13. If you don’t know, the EU created a whole bunch of rules for each country in Europe to follow. Some are good and some are just plain stupid. Article 13 is kinda like Europe’s version of Net Neutrality…only if it were on steroids. Article 13 has some tight restrictions but the most controversial thing to come from is that it kills off anything that has to do with copyright. Anything like music, video games, and of course memes won’t exist and guess what? Those motherf**kers in the EU actually said “f**k it!” and let the thing pass and all thanks to this lovely son of a b*ch, Axel Voss

*sighs heavily*

Axel Voss…why? Why? Just why? Why would you say yes? Months before the voting in March, you were supposed to be hope. I trusted your word. I thought you knew what to say, but you had to say the complete opposite. And do you want to know what my reaction is? Do you really want to see it? Oh I’ll give it you you. Here is goes. All I have to say is….wow, you really f**ked everything up big time and here’s my message towards you all:

F**k the EU! F**k Article 13! F**k everyone who allowed to let this thing get approved and have it take effect two years later! And finally, f**k you Axel Voss! F**k you all! I hope all you will burn in hell for this.

Now it’s time for the star of the show and the main topic I talk about every year, Trump.

Oh my where I do even begin? 2019 was the year on how low Trump can go as a president and as a person. Well he already is low.

I know that there’s a huge like and dislike ratio with this man. If you support Trump and would like to dismantle any argument that I make that is totally against everything he says and does, then that’s great! Now do me favor: GO F**K YOURSELF!!!

I had enough of this man and I am sick of this nonsense! Hell I’ve been sick of it already. He’s done way too much and he’s been tripping all over the place as well.

Why are there still people out there supporting this guy? Like seriously, what is wrong with you people?

I have a feeling that you’re going to say this: “What makes him bad to you? He basically done a lot in the past three years. He lowered my taxes so I won’t have to pay that much”.

Um excuse me? Does it look I f**king care if you don’t have to pay that much for taxes? Abso-f**king-lutely not. I don’t give a sh*t if you’re paying less in taxes along with telling me that it’s raining tacos. Must I remind you that this man ordered a government shutdown for the first part of the year which, bear in mind, lasted 30 days all because he wanted a wall to be built between the Mexican and American borders? Let’s not forget that the president of Mexico already said no to paying that wall.

So yeah, Trump was throwing a tantrum over it. Why not you just build a wall of Legos? It’s cheaper.

The more I think about this, the more I pay attention to the audience in Trump’s rallies. What do I see, I hear you ask? Nothing but basic white people and that’s exactly my point. In most of Trump’s rallies, you don’t see any black, Hispanic, Asian, or Somalian people in the stands. That’s because would they support Trump? All you see is just white people and the majority of them have blonde hair and blue eyes.

They’re not just any white people, they are the ones with the guns, Trump hats, the pick up truck, and the Confederate flag. They are also known as those die hard rednecks that love to spread hatred and racism. I do have to admit that I love rednecks with their Southern accents and charm (expect for the racism), but not the rednecks that love an orangutan that cares about himself and money.

This orangutan is also businessman who seems to have an obsession on running a business to the ground which is exactly what he’s doing to America. Plus he doesn’t think that global warming is real. Uh huh, you might want to tell that to California and its many wildfires, the farmers who had so much rainfall this year and can’t sell their crops due to tariffs, and pretty much to the entire world or you can just act like an idiot which leads into me calling you, and say it with me, a whiny little b*ch.

Oh Trump honey, you and you’re little friends are in so much trouble when it hits January because you’ve got impeached and you were basically whining on Twitter about it. All I heard was doom and gloom and the sounds of a baby crying. Awww….does little Trump want his nappy wampy? Might as well tell your queen Mike Pence that you need one, because you’re losing this chess game.

I can’t get the image of Trump showing off a map on where Hurricane Dorian was going to hit out of my head. He may got the part on where it was going to hit Florida right, but he pointed out that it was going to hit Alabama. Technically that map was outdated and Hurricane Dorian didn’t hit Alabama, but he didn’t say that he was wrong. Instead he just circles on where the hurricane was going to hit with a white sharpie and had a proud look on his face saying “Look what I did, daddy. I’m smart”. He pretty much made the entire state of Alabama fall into a panic.

He was so proud of himself that he phone called his best friend Putin about it. I swear that Putin has something on him and the reason why he wanted Trump to win is so that he can get Trump to do whatever he wants. Trump is basically Putin’s b*ch.

Plus Putin rewrote the Russian constitution which Trump doesn’t even seem to care about America’s own constitution at all. Even his own party members don’t care about it. They seem to care about the 2nd amendment more and it’s a dying shame that all of them will be voted out of office when 2020 hits. Can’t wait for it.

Unfortunately, when there’s a new president, there’s going to be a lot to fix since no one trusts America anymore since Trump ruined everything especially getting out of that deal with Iran. That had to be the most dumbest thing that he’s ever done. Big mistake, Trump.

All he did was claim that Obama gave them money? No he didn’t. The agreement was to see what America was giving to Iran along with unfreezing their money just so they feed their people. But no, blame everything on Obama because why not.

Honestly the current Republican party blame things that happened on former presidents and the Democrats. People also say that the Democrats have gone way too far onto the left, but here’s the thing, the Republicans were the party that actually had the balls of steel, but now they’ve gone completely off the rails allowing their own president to break the constitution just get information on a political rival from a foreign leader which is a violation and illegal. Do the Republicans seem to care about rules being broken? Of course not. What are these people on exactly? Dope? I would sure love to have some of that just so I won’t have to deal with crap.

Most of my year end reviews on what Trump did is hard. Why? It’s because he doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut. Again, why is there people out there who support this man? He’s a crook. You might argue with me that he’s a businessman. And? You’re point is? Listen, how can he be a businessman when filed for bankruptcy several times? That’s not a good businessman, that’s a bad one. When are you people going to get that through your thick skulls?

Can you imagine if it were Obama doing the crap that Trump had some so far? Oh god, the Republicans would have his head. The Republicans now? Nah, they don’t want to bother since they don’t want to lose their power. Ahh….that’s too bad, you’re going to be losing that during the senate trail next year.

Speaking of Alabama, they were the first state to pass an anti abortion law, but guess what? Women don’t know if their pregnant in six weeks so why bother. Oh wait, I keep forgetting that the American government is being run by old white men that like taking a giant step back in time where woman didn’t have any rights. Back in the 1960s, doctors wouldn’t tell women about their health but only told it to their husbands. Yeah that’s right, women weren’t treated as as people and it was pretty messed up. Now a few decades before that time period, women couldn’t walk around unless they were with their husbands. Can you imagine that being written in law in this current time period? It would be f**ked up even though it was back then and it still exist in other countries to this day. What’s even worse is that women weren’t taught how to read or weren’t sent to school. That was centuries ago mind you.

2020 is going to be the start of whole new decade. The 2010s weren’t that bad, but it was till the near end were it got bad. 2020 is going to be the year of adios Trump.

Anyway, this has been Lbat1901 reporting last time in 2019. See you in 2020.

[faceloan94-blog]

Big Bar Celebrates Five Years of Being “Stupidly Awesome”

One of the stalwarts of the Los Angeles cocktail community is celebrating a milestone this month. Since opening on Oct. 8, 2010, Big Bar has become a vital part of L.A.’s thriving bar scene. A favorite of Los Feliz locals and traveling cocktail cognoscenti alike, Big Bar is as well-known for hosting endlessly inventive events as it is for serving expertly made drinks.

Big Bar is located in the same 1916 Spanish duplex as Alcove Cafe & Bakery, the beloved neighborhood spot that’s housed in two historic bungalows off Hillhurst Avenue. The duplex and the 1897 Craftsman cottage in the back were acquired and restored by Tom Trellis, who was inspired by European cafe culture when he opened Alcove in July 2004. An urban oasis with garden patios and Parisian-style bistro decor, Alcove Cafe features a menu of updated American classics, artisan baked goods and hand-roasted coffee.

On a recent afternoon, three bartenders that have been integral to the Big Bar story got together to look back on its five-year run: opening Bar Manager Juan Sevilla, who currently bartends a couple of nights at the new Everson Royce Bar; former Bar Manager Dan Long, Bacardi Portfolio Ambassador; and Eugene Lee, the heart and soul of Big Bar.

Juan Sevilla at Big Bar | Photo by Eugene Lee

Sevilla got involved with the project through current Big Bar bartender Florence Hartigan when they were both at The Edison. ”We’d been friends for several years,” says Sevilla. “I was working at The Edison and we had a mutual friend that worked there as well, and we became friends through that. Flo and I lived down the street from each other and she mentioned that there was talk of a bar opening at the Alcove.”

At the time, Sevilla had no idea where the bar was going to be or that the space was even there; it was previously the Village Gourmet cheese shop. “I was this hungry bartender at The Edison, learning a bunch, wanting to do something creative [and] wanted to go to the next level. If I could somehow get the job to help open this bar, it would be such a fun little project – scary of course, because I had never done anything like it. I asked Flo if she could get me a meeting with the management and ownership here. I ended up meeting with Tom several times; I’m sure he met with several other people. Everyone probably saw the potential this bar had, because it’s always so busy on the cafe side. It has that built-in business already that helped make it successful.”

At first it didn’t look like Big Bar was going to happen for Sevilla, who had already left The Edison to help open Soho House in West Hollywood. He had been there a few months and then took a job to work with Erick Castro at Rickhouse in San Francisco. Before Sevilla left for S.F., Trellis reached out and asked if they could meet just one more time. “He asked me if I was still interested in this, then we could do it. And I said yes.”

Big Bar during the buildout | Photo by Eugene Lee

Looking back at how things worked out, Sevilla says, “I’d loved to have gone to San Francisco and learn whatever I could learn at that bar. I’m very into learning, like everyone I think that does well in this business. You always want to go out and whatever job you take, you want to make sure that you’re constantly learning. But I saw this as a much better opportunity for me because it was scarier, it was something I really had no idea how to do. I don’t regret it at all, it’s been a great springboard for my bar career.”

Sevilla was given free rein to build his bar team. “They didn’t give me any guidelines on ‘this is how we want the staff to look.’ They let me do it however I wanted. I knew it would be a mistake to bring in a whole new, veteran ‘bar crew’ and big names and this and that, I didn’t want to do that at all. I thought we would miss something very important if we didn’t see what the potential was, what the talent was from the Alcove side. And there happened to be a few people that wanted to try out and had some kind of bartending experience.”

“When you walk into this Alcove world — I’d spent less than week just working in this little office and I got to not only meet so many fun people, but I got to see a very interesting culture. They’re like family here. I’ve never worked at a place where everybody’s got each other’s back so much, everybody’s so supportive of each other. I knew right away that if you’re good over there [on the Alcove side] you’re going to be good over here because they’re dealing with so much traffic all day long.”

Rich Andreoli at Big Bar about one month after its grand opening.

The opening bar team included Eugene Lee, Mia Sarazen, Rich Andreoli, Dan Long, Rosie Ruiz, Matt Schaefer and (briefly) Khelsy Raymond. Sevilla’s friend Florence Hartigan wasn’t on the opening team, but came on board a couple of months later.

Mario Tecuapacho | Photo by Eugene Lee

Sevilla emphasizes the importance of the opening barbacks: Matt Nikita (who is still at Big Bar), Mario Tecuapacho, Mark Skeens and Sean McBride. They all later became bartenders, mostly during Long’s tenure, and were instrumental to Big Bar’s success. “I would much rather grow someone as a barback than hire someone off the street,” says Sevilla. “They’re homegrown, you teach them everything that you want them to learn and they do things the way your bar does them.”

“As far as the opening crew, Dan was actually the last person that we hired. I needed one more bartender; I had a good mix of that side and this side. I was going to go either way – someone not classically trained at another bar, or get someone from the community. I knew Dan from First & Hope, and then we ran into each other and stayed in touch.”

Sevilla subsequently talked with Long at Sporting Life, the informal, quarterly gathering of L.A. bartenders and cocktailians that takes place at different bars across the city. In addition to an afternoon of socializing and imbibing, Sporting Life is also a networking opportunity for bar managers and those seeking jobs. “I was kind of feeling him out, I’ve always done that,” says Sevilla. “I’ve never just called someone up, ‘You want a job?’ I always want to see where they’re at, what they’re doing.”

“Part of starting something new, you can’t just look at a resume and look at what they’ve done and what they can do,” continues Sevilla. “It’s more what’s going on in their life right now, especially in this community because as you know, bartenders in this city and a lot of cities move around so much. This bar to that bar, two bars at once. I didn’t want that per se.”

Eugene Lee and Dan Long: Day One or Day Two at Big Bar. | Photo courtesy of Eugene Lee

Long was originally brought in to help Sevilla train his staff with Sarazen and Andreoli. When Big Bar opened, Long was a bartender at Cole’s and later moved over to The Tasting Kitchen in Venice. “It made sense to me to see if it would work out [with Dan],” says Sevilla. “Obviously it did, he ended up taking over the bar with Eugene and giving it a real presence in the community. I’m very impressed with what it’s become. It’s a really cool bar and it’s always busy. I mean, it looks like this every day and night. There’s not one seat available [at the bar].”

“At first when the bar opened, in that year we were just stoked to see people come in here,” says Lee. “Juan would say, ‘Hey Eugene, that’s so and so’; Dan would say, ‘That’s Zach Patterson, he’s doing really cool things at STK’ or wherever he was at the time. I’ve gotten to know a lot of really nice people in the community who are just awesome in their own right and run really cool programs. I hope that vibe and spirit of camaraderie and community still pervades not only the cocktail community but obviously our Los Feliz community.”

Dan Long launches the 2012 Midsummer Cocktail Menu at Big Bar.

“It’s part of what inspired this guest cocktail board,” adds Lee. “Dan had thought of the idea of the Featured Cocktail Board and we had some bangers up there.” Lee singles out one of Long’s creations from the 2012 Midsummer Cocktail Menu called the Thorn in My Side (“Just a crusher, my God”), made with Knob Creek Rye, Martini & Rossi Bianco Vermouth, fresh ginger and Blackthorn cider.

Tequila Lifeboat: the secret ingredient is “Juan’s Disapproval.” | Photo by Eugene Lee

Every cocktail has an origin story, and one of my favorites is the one for Lee’s Tequila Lifeboat (or as Long calls it, “Eugene’s tequila mic drop”), which goes back to Big Bar’s earliest days. Sevilla sets the scene. “We’re trying to find our identity. The cocktail scene in L.A. was very young, and we really tried hard to not do things too crazy, just do simple stuff. And then I have this new bartender, Eugene, who came from [The Japanese Restaurant Bar That Shall Not Be Named] and starts peeling garnishes and making them [into] boats and making fancy cocktails – I’ll admit, it’s a delicious drink – but I remember I was like, ‘Eugene, tone it back a little bit and don’t make things too gimmicky,’ in so many words.”

Sevilla adds, “To this day, I’ll admit I’m not a super creative dude. I learned the classics and to be honest with you, I stuck with them. I don’t veer too far off.” He references this quote from Castro in an Imbibe article: “I’m a believer that the more ingredients you add to a cocktail, the more likely it’ll be good, but the less likely it’ll be great.”

Describing his own drink ordering preferences, Sevilla says, “Even when I go out, when I get a drink I’m very vanilla in that sense. I’ll order an old-fashioned Negroni just because those are the ones that I like. Dan’s a lot better at that, getting super nerdy and making cool infusions and all that stuff. Anyways, I wanted to keep it simple. I wanted to get ourselves known for having a great bar before we started getting too gimmicky with cocktails. We got fun. We still do, obviously, with tons of events.”

Lee picks up the Tequila Lifeboat narrative. “It’s month one. I just learned how to make a Mojito. They’re delicious, crush ’em all the time. We had some habanero agave in the house for the Summer in Martinique, which was one of my favorite cocktails. I’d just finished [the Tequila Lifeboat] that night and we’re ten minutes to close. Kirsten Dunst walks in and she’s like, ‘Hey, can I get a drink?’”

It was just before last call and Lee obliged. “Actually, I’ve been working on this drink. ‘What’s in it?’ Well, tequila — ‘OK fine. Done. I love tequila.’ I’m like, great. So I made it for her and her friend, they drink it.” By this time the lights are on, Lee is cleaning up and Dunst came back to the bar. “‘This is the best tequila cocktail I’ve had in I don’t know when. I drink a lot of tequila, I should know.’ And I’m like, WHAT?! That’s amazing. ‘I know you guys are closing, can I please have another one?’ Cool, man. That’s awesome. So I made her another one and then we close. And I was super, super stoked on it. I’d never had anyone compliment me on anything I made.”

“A week later, our fearless bar manager Juan was working a Friday night shift. I was on the patio enjoying an early dinner with my roommate. And who should walk up to our table, Kirsten fucking Dunst. ‘Hey, I know you’re not working right now. I tried to get your drink from the other guy inside. He can’t really make it.’ So I wrote it on a napkin and gave it to her.”

Oh, to have seen Sevilla’s expression when he was handed the napkin. “He made it for her and she came back and said, ‘He didn’t quite make it right.’ I’m like, that’s my boss, I can’t go in there. I can’t make it. ‘Really? Can you just make one really quick?’ Err no, I’m not working today. That’s my boss, I can’t do it.” (Ever the good sport, Sevilla is laughing louder than anyone as Lee tells us this story.)

Cut to the 2014 winter menu, which included the Tequila Lifeboat. “I had to give [Juan] props,” says Lee. “Flo had a copy of his passport photo from when he was in the Air Force. He looked like Jimmy ‘Superfly’ Snuka meets a Samoan guy – he had a big, thick neck and curly hair. I got that photo photocopied and wrapped it around a bitters bottle, which was filled with nothing. I wrote that the final ingredient was ‘Juan’s Disapproval.’” So along with Partida Tequila, habanero agave and orange juice, the bartender was supposed to add dashes of Juan’s Disapproval.

Dan Long at Big Bar | Photo by Eugene Lee

A little more than a year after opening Big Bar, Sevilla decided it was time to move on. “Once that happened, they approached me to partner with Eugene to run the bar, initially as a consultant,” says Long. “It kind of started out that we were both assigned to do it. ‘We’d like to hire you to be a cocktail consultant.’ OK, sure. All along knowing that I was going to slowly wrangle this bar away from whatever they thought it was going to be and really put a rocket ship on it and try to make it go high and go far.”

“One of the things we haven’t mentioned,” adds Long. “Alcove’s been here 11 years, Big Bar’s been here five years, Eugene’s been here nine and a half years. He’s as much of a fixture as anything else that goes on around here. He has such a rapport with everyone who’s ever been here, not just who’s working now. They wanted him to manage the bar and I would manage the direction of the cocktail program.”

“As cool and flattering as it was, to me it was kind of an insane idea because you don’t have a student teach the class,” says Lee. “Dan Long was my teacher, so there’s no way in hell I was going to do this without him. No way. To this day I’m way more comfortable in the role of a student. The fact that I got the opportunity to help guide the ship with Dan was an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity. I think it goes back to that old school apprentice-master model. It was an opportunity I jumped at, because I was honored to have the offer, but moreover to be able to work with someone who was at that level and my teacher.”

Sevilla notes, “We always have to give credit to Tom Trellis, the owner of Big Bar and Alcove Cafe. Tom and I had developed this very respectful relationship where he gave me so much freedom – and probably to Dan as well when he took over – and he was always very willing to trust in your ideas and give it a try on so many levels.”

After Sevilla announced that he was leaving Big Bar, he took an active role during the transition period. “Naturally when you’re leaving a bar, you’re supposed to hire your replacement and I was very involved in that. You go look and see what’s out there. I gave it about a week and a half, two weeks of looking. I didn’t present anyone to [Tom]. We threw some names around, none of which I can remember.”

“I didn’t know if Dan or Eugene had ever managed a bar, but I proposed it [to Tom]. ‘I think Dan and Eugene would kill it.’ Dan is obviously a very talented bar guy and Eugene’s been here almost from day one. It was part of maintaining that culture, which is so important. I’d feel bad about leaving it to someone I didn’t know and trust. Not like it’s my bar, but still it’s meant so much to me, it’s done so much for me. I’m really happy that [Tom] said, ‘Let’s do it.’ He was all about it. And again, he’s willing to trust his people.”

Morrissey at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, May 2014 | Photo by Eugene Lee

With the strong foundation that Sevilla and the opening team had built, Long and Lee took the baton and really ran with it. “I believe we were quite the left-right punch,” says Lee. “Holy crap. [Dan] was the alchemist and the artist in one person. And I was the really badass secretary who also picked up a camera for the first time when Big Bar opened. That’s when I started shooting.” Lee has since become an accomplished live music and special event photographer, exhibiting at Art Beyond the Glass and capturing images like the above photo of Morrissey, which has a fantastic backstory.

“The combination of being able to work with Dan in that regard, I thought we were just such a lethal team. We got things done, we had fun and man, what a crash course in event production. We got to really do some cool things. [Dan] and I are both romantics and dreamers, we’re born two days apart from each other. It’s really nice to be working with a creative – one has a little more left [brain] and one has a little more right, it’s such a good connection.”

The fabled elephant at the Bollywood Prom | Photo by Eugene Lee

Big Bar’s events are by far some of the most fun and memorable cocktail parties in the city. You have to admire the creativity and effort that the Big Bar crew puts into their special events, which are consistently outstanding and produced on relatively shoestring budgets. Your local has theme nights too? I’ll see your 80s cocktail menu or disco playlist and raise you a giant, 30-foot inflatable elephant watching over the Bollywood Prom in 2013.

The Bollywood Prom King and Queen with their Court | Photo courtesy of Eugene Lee

That year, a newlywed couple was named the Bollywood Prom King and Queen. “They came in with a friend,” says Long. “I was working the day shift, [it was] slow. They were the only people who came in. Essentially they had just gone down to City Hall and eloped. They were here for their post-ceremony cocktail. They hadn’t even told their parents yet, because they were supposed to have this family wedding. ‘We couldn’t wait anymore so we just went Downtown and got married.’ Funny, here’s a Prom Court nomination.” Sevilla adds, “They told Dan before they told their parents. That’s gotta tell you something about the trust they have for the bartender in the community.”

Rich Andreoli and Mia Sarazen at “Enchantment Under the Sea” | Photo by Eugene Lee

Dan Long as Napoleon and Eugene Lee as a Musketeer | Photo courtesy of Eugene Lee

The annual Valentine’s Day prom is one of the events that really brought Big Bar to the attention of a wider audience, debuting in 2011 with the Back to the Future-inspired theme, “Enchantment Under the Sea.” To promote the following year’s prom, “Midnight in Paris,” Long and Lee walked into a Sporting Life at Black Market Liquor Bar dressed as Napoleon and a Musketeer, respectively. Lee says, “Showing up dressed like Napoleon and the Musketeer actually was a perfect way to show the command structure at that time. ‘We have a general, his name is Danpoleon.’ And I’m happy being Korean D’Artagnan. [It] felt like the first moment that [Dan] and I got the jitters away, and we’re feeling good and saying, ‘Hey, we can do this.’ This is relevant. This bar will be greater than it was the previous year and continue to do so. I just love seeing pictures of that time, because we looked so stupid but we looked so awesome, too. And that’s how I felt about the direction of this bar, I felt like this is gonna be stupidly awesome.”

Long says, “That was one of the things that I really loved about being here, the amazing collaboration that we would do together with all of our hair-brained ideas. Just throwing it against the wall and making it all stick, you know? And really just saying that there’s nothing we can’t do, we have all this great space, this great neighborhood where people come in and they trust us to show them a good time. Between the staff, the neighborhood and the freedom like Juan said that the ownership gave us, there was really no better job to have. It was just an incredible experience.”

Learning about all things Bacardi at “Alcove’s Alcove” | Photo by Eugene Lee

There are plenty of Big Bar events that are more low key than the annual prom; many of them take place at the Craftsman cottage in the back of the property. Nicknamed “Alcove’s Alcove,” the cottage is primarily used for private parties, meetings and special events. Numerous cocktail events, industry tastings and educational seminars have taken place there, including the Plymouth Gin Breakfast of Champions, Bulleit Kentucky Derby House Party, St. Germain World’s Slowest Bike Race, Hudson Whiskey dinner, Sipsmith Gin tasting and many more. Lee says, “I just love that the cocktail community can get together in a nice, cool, air-conditioned space and get some education on, or a tasting, dinner or breakfast. It’s a good space for that.”

And speaking of the L.A. cocktail community, Lee gives a special shout out to two members of the extended Big Bar family. “We absolutely have to give love to Joe Keeper and Bar Keeper. What a wonderful ambassador for our space. I know the Keepers don’t really go out and drink much, but when they do and they come here, everybody gets jazzed because it’s such an honor to have Joe and Anna sit here. They’ve been such a great supporter of our bar. It’s like the Velvet Underground, if you listen to a live recording and hear eight people clapping in the audience, those eight people ended up forming really relevant bands. Those eight people that were in the room at Bar Keeper that started Sporting Life are the kind of people that came to support us – we’re totally indebted to and grateful for [them]. We have to be good, because of them.”

“Raiders of the Lost Ark” on the Big Bar patio | Photo by Eugene Lee

Another signature Big Bar series is the outdoor movie screenings that take place on the Alcove patio, featuring a 17-foot screen and themed food and drink menus. Seating is first come, first served and the events occasionally feature special guests – a recent screening of Rocky was followed by a Q&A with the film’s director, John G. Avildsen. The film series began in 2010 as an Academy Awards viewing party. “The Oscar party seems like kind of a blur,” says Lee. “Funny enough, that’s actually when I met my wife.”

“I was back here bartending with Eugene,” says Sevilla. “There were two blondes sitting right here in the corner, and I see Eugene totally trying to chat up this girl. I ended up leaving for the night, and Eugene confessed to me later on, saying, ‘I gotta admit, I left my post.’ Mario (or whoever the barback was) kinda took over, ‘cause I had to go talk –”

Lee quickly adds, “Listen, full disclosure: I have never, even back in my sordid history of working at a Japanese restaurant bar that shall be unnamed, I have never asked for anybody’s phone number. That’s never been my thing. I think it’s kind of unprofessional and all that stuff. But the one time I break, I ended up marrying her. So I feel like that’s cool. I’m good now.”

“It’s really nice that part of my personal story is woven into the history of this place,” says Lee. “There was a very big, spirited cocktail component to my wedding and my life. Dave Stolte did our His and Hers cocktails, we had all of our guests from all over the states, and some from around the world enjoy craft cocktails for the first time at our wedding. This place is very special to us.”

Mixtape Mixology: “The Breakfast Club” | Photo courtesy of Eugene Lee

The long-running Mixtape Mixology Thursday night series features guest bartenders who also select the playlist for the night. “The story of Mixtape goes back to me being a starting bartender here,” explains Lee. “I had Juan, Mia, Rich and Dan. So I was still starting out, I did a lot of daytime shifts, a lot of brunches. The one way that I got to shoehorn my way to having a night – ’cause I was begging Juan for a night – was [after Sevilla said], ‘Well, think of something cool.’ How about on Thursday nights? ‘If you can make something out of it, I’ll give you an opportunity.’ So I said fine, how about Mixtape Mixology? It’s alliteration, it’s cool. The very first one we did was…a shoegaze mix? I remember doing one with Mia, we did an international hip-hop mix which was [the second one]. The people behind the stick here, and all over the country and L.A. are very creative people. Music, it’s like the perfect language. I want to know the kind of stuff that these guys listen to, I think it’s important.”

Juan Sevilla, Erick Castro and Dan Long at “L.A. Loves S.F.” | Photo by Eugene Lee

A subset of the series is L.A. Loves S.F., which debuted in March 2011 and featured none other than DJ Hugenius Leerectus. “That’s when I unveiled the Mixtape Mixology machine that I built in our mutual friend’s backyard,” says Lee. “This was almost five years ago, we were chatting about how everybody in L.A. loves San Francisco but sometimes it does feel like a one-way street. So we wanted to continue this tradition of doing an L.A. Loves San Francisco night, and invite a San Francisco bartender to our bar and play L.A. songs and San Francisco songs and try to kind of bring it together. That first night we had Juan, Dan and Erick Castro. What an honor.”

The Big Bar crew is ready for takeoff on New Year’s Eve 2014. | Photo courtesy of Eugene Lee

Big Bar’s annual New Year’s Eve countdown is a perfect way to start off the evening’s festivities or as a standalone celebration. It starts in the afternoon and moves across time zones from east to west with ten toasts on the hour, featuring a different cocktail inspired by that region or country. Sevilla credits Lee with the concept. “People [in L.A.] get nostalgic [about] where they’re from, the East Coast people are on the phone with their friends at 9 o’clock, ‘I’m celebrating with you.’”

“The countdown was inspired by a trip to Vegas I had right out of college,” says Lee. “I had never been to Vegas on [New Year’s Eve] and starting at 7 o’clock, every time we went to the crosswalk, as soon as that thing started counting down from ‘10,’ everyone all around started chanting, ‘10, 9…’ and they would say ‘Happy New Year’ at every crosswalk.”

New Year’s Eve cocktail postcards by Dave Stolte | Courtesy of Eugene Lee

Lee continues, “We’d only been open for two or three months. Ahh, screw it, no one’s coming here for New Year’s. Why don’t we just take 4 o’clock to 9 o’clock and I’d say that’s a win. From there, the passport came about Year Two with Dan and we did the postcards last year.” With cocktail passports, stamps, progressive cocktails and playlists, and then last year’s international cocktail tour with postcards and airline costumes, what will they do this Dec. 31? Lee is only half-joking when he says they’re going to have to land a plane inside Big Bar to top themselves.

Photo courtesy of Eugene Lee

No matter how wild and crazy Big Bar gets with their events, the strength of the cocktail program is what keeps guests coming back. And it’s been that way from the beginning. Lee says, “My freshman class with Rosie and Matt, we got the best training one could possibly get. Before the bar was open, we were in that back house every day, hustling away, learning everything. We were trained one on one with Mia, Rich, Juan and Dan. I don’t know, maybe other bars do it. That kind of intensive, one instructor to one student, apprenticeship-style program is not only quaint, it’s a really wonderful way to learn an artisan craft. Which is exactly what this is, without making it too precious.”

Lee continues, “To get that foundational support from Juan and the team that he brought together, and to have someone like Dan take that, and add a little Technicolor to it and really start moving laterally and diagonally with how we could think about drinks while having it anchored in classics, is a truly amazing and unique experience. I just hope that whoever does take the reins in the future can bring a little piece of Juan and Dan with them. We’re all the better for it. And it’s been a pleasure being the secretary this whole time.”

“I think it needs to be said, [Eugene] is the king of tooting other people’s horns for them better than anybody can,” says Long. “But he really is the glue of this place from even before the bar was here. And I think that anybody who has ever worked with him, whether it’s in the bar or on an event, will say he’s one of the most giving people you’ve ever met in your life. He is the flame of this place that keeps it warm and keeps it burning, keeps all these people tied together, and keeps us happy when we were running it. It really could never have happened without Eugene. He is the soul of the whole place. Everybody will back me up on that.”

“I’ve had this conversation with Tom before,” says Sevilla. “We’ve always agreed that Eugene has been a big part of keeping this thing alive. Hopefully he stays for the rest of his life!”

“Working with these guys — it’s really awesome to sit at a bar with an incredibly talented bartender that can make awesome classics,” says Lee. “And then you get this next cut of a creative bartender that riffs on those classics and changes your perception of things. If you get all that packaged and still have fun and make things accessible, I think that’s really great. That’s what I’ve learned from Dan and Juan, and that’s what a lot of the people that come through the bar, I hope they can take that with them. This has been a special moment in time and hopefully one that bears fruit to future generations of people that sit here and work here.”

Big Bar at Alcove 1929 Hillhurst Ave. Los Angeles, CA, 90027 (323) 644-0100 www.alcovecafe.com/bigbar

Big Bar header image courtesy of Eugene Lee.

After the jump, read on for the schedule of Big Bar’s five-year anniversary festivities. Sorry Friday, you’ve been cancelled for October.

Juan Collins at Big Bar | Photo by Eugene Lee

Big Bar kicked off its month-long five-year anniversary celebration on Oct. 1 with the launch of its “Greatest Hits” menu of original cocktails, as selected by present and former staff, locals, regulars and crowdsourced online. The menu will be featured throughout October. That same night, the Juan Collins began its month on the Featured Cocktail Board. Opening Bar Manager Juan Sevilla’s cocktail is made with Bombay Gin, lemon, tamarind syrup and soda, garnished with tamarindo candy.

Big Bar Barrel | Photo by Eugene Lee

Oct. 8: “The Return of the Kings” The big night is Thursday, Oct. 8, the actual five-year anniversary of Big Bar. “The Return of the Kings” is a throwback guest night featuring Big Bar’s former Bar Managers, Juan Sevilla and Dan Long alongside some of the Big Bar family, some of whom have been there for all five years. Starting at 4 p.m., Big Bar bartenders past and present will work in teams of two, culminating with Sevilla and Long behind the stick at 8 p.m.

Big Bar will launch their own Big Bar Barrel with one of their beloved Old Fashioned variations, the Ponte Vecchio – rye whiskey, Galliano Authentico, Miracle Mile Forbidden Bitters. Imbibers can look forward to a rotating barrel-aged cocktail as the barrel depletes.

Thirsty guests can spin a custom Wheel O’ Cocktails with favorites, “deep cuts and B-sides” from the Big Bar menu archives. Look for obscure selections like Dan Long’s Escandolo – “one of my favorite crushable beer cocktails,” says Lee – and the Tricelerytops from their Jurassic Park movie night.

“Too Many Bartenders” at Big Bar | Courtesy of Eugene Lee

Oct. 15 & 22: “Too Many Bartenders” Big Bar welcomes back some of their featured guest bartenders for two nights of “Too Many Bartenders,” with five bartenders each night, progressive cocktails and playlists. On Oct. 15, the guests will be Alex Straus (EP LP), Cari Hah (Clifton’s Cafeteria), Dave Stolte (Home Bar Basics), Genie Gore (Melrose Umbrella Co.) and Paul Sanguinetti (Normandie Club). The guests on Oct. 22 are Aaron Melendrez (Clifton’s, Normandie Club), Chris Day (General Lee’s), Karen Grill (Sassafras Saloon), Ricky Yarnall (Henry Wine Group) and Una Green (Belcampo Meat Co.).

Oct. 29: “All My Friends Are Dead” The month of anniversary festivities concludes with a pre-Halloween party, because Thursday is the new black. The theme is “All My Friends are Dead,” featuring special guests Randy Tarlow of Liquid Alchemist and Alex Goode (Mt. Gay Rum). Stay tuned for all of the spooky surprises TBA.

Source: http://thirstyinla.com/2015/10/07/big-bar-five-year-anniversary/

[investmart007]

ARLINGTON, Texas | Colon might not have enough time to pass Marichal again

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ARLINGTON, Texas | Colon might not have enough time to pass Marichal again

ARLINGTON, Texas — Bartolo Colon still has another lofty goal after becoming the top winning pitcher from Latin America.

“This year is almost getting close to the end. But there is one thing that I will look for, is Juan Marichal has more innings than me,” Colon said through a translator. “For the Dominicans, I want to beat him also.”

But there likely won’t be enough time left in his 21st big league season for the 45-year-old Texas Rangers right-hander to do that.

After needing six tries to get his 246th career victory and finally break a tie with Nicaragua’s Dennis Martinez for the most win by a Latin American, Colon now would have to throw 61 2/3 more innings to pass Hall of Famer and fellow countryman Marichal on another list.

The last-place Rangers have only 46 games left in this long and hot summer. Colon, who has averaged just under six innings in his 21 starts, would probably have no more than nine starts remaining in a five-man rotation and if he stayed on his turn.

But the Rangers are clearly focused on the future and likely will want to look at some younger pitchers, especially after rosters expand Sept. 1. Plus, they are already lined up with six starters and Colon won’t pitch again until next week, even though the team has no off days before then.

When asked Wednesday if Colon’s workload would be lessened down the stretch, manager Jeff Banister responded, “We’re still in the same rotation as before.”

Colon (6-10) gave up four runs and eight hits in seven innings Tuesday night in his 11-4 milestone win over the Mariners. The portly and popular right-hander retired 14 of the last 16 batters he faced after Seattle had two triples in the third, an inning after back-to-back homers by Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager.

When Colon got his 243rd career win on June 6 against Oakland, he matched Marichal for the most by a Dominican pitcher. The Rangers hurler passed the “Dominican Dandy” on the victory list when he beat Kansas City on June 18.

Marichal, who threw 244 complete games in his career, pitched 3,507 innings in 471 games over 16 years.

Colon is at 3,445 2/3 career innings, the most among active pitchers, as are his wins, after beating the Mariners in his 560th career game. He has pitched 130 1/3 innings this season.

After catching Martinez at 245 wins on June 30 against the Chicago White Sox, Colon went 0-5 with a 6.46 ERA in his five July starts before breaking the tie.

“The pretty remarkable thing about 246 (wins), we’ve been talking about all morning, there’s a couple guys with outside shots,” Banister said. “If Bart got to 250, he could be the last to get to 250. That would be the crazy thing about it.”

CC Sabathia, the 37-year-old Yankees pitcher, has 243 career wins. Houston’s Justin Verlander, who is 35, is third among active pitchers with 199 wins. Felix Hernandez, the loser against the Rangers on Tuesday night, has 168 career wins for the most by a Venezuela-born pitcher.

“He loves the game,” Banister said of Colon. “He loves to play, which is pretty refreshing. And we know it.”

By STEPHEN HAWKINS ,Associated Press

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1222

Monday, July 23, 2018

 The rains finally came. I hope it's enough to save farmers' crops. Now we don't have to worry as much about wild fires like what's happening in northwest Ontario and parts of BC. We have friends living close to both fires and I'm worried they may be in danger.

 Kick-Ass #6 - Mark Millar (writer) John Romita Jr. (pencils) Peter Steigerwald (digital inks & colours) John Workman (letters). An unbelievable getaway concludes this story. I was very happy with the way this ended. Mrs. Lee's story continues on September 19.

 Runaways #11 - Rainbow Rowell (writer) Kris Anka (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). This is a good issue to start with if you want a very good comic book about family. There's no big super villain threat or world shattering event, just the kids trying to live their odd lives and loving each other. I want to be Molly's granddad.

 The Life of Captain Marvel #1 - Margaret Stohl (writer) Marguerite Sauvage (art flashbacks) Carlos Pacheco (pencils present day) Rafael Fonteriz (inks present day) Marcio Menyz (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). It's time to give Carol Danvers another crack at the racks with this new book. Marvel's Captain Marvel has come a long way since the Kree in the green costume first hit the racks in 1967. The original was named Mar-Vell and was a Kree soldier so the super hero name was a no brainer. It was a big deal for me when Mar-Vell died of cancer. That story by Jim Starlin was a milestone. Carol Danvers has had many transformations since she first appeared soon after Mar-Vell did. She went from being Ms. Marvel (1977) to Binary (1982) to Warbird (1998) and finally to Captain Marvel (2012). Lots of costume changes too. I vaguely remember Carol receiving her super powers and taking on the mantle of Captain Marvel and now she is even starring in her own Marvel movie hitting theatres next spring. There's a rich history if you want to go back and read those old stories but the creative team did a splendid job of starting this new series off with all you need to know to see what Captain Marvel and especially Carol Danvers is all about. I like the new costume. Still not a fan of the sash.

 Batman #51 - Tom King (writer) Lee Weeks (art) Elizabeth Breitweiser (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). Cold Days part 1. I laughed when I got to the final panel. Saw that coming when the jury started their deliberations. So forget the wedding that wasn't. This new story is the murder trial of Mr. Freeze. He is accused of killing three women and it was the Batman that had him arrested. Guess who got called in for jury duty? Two things tickled my fancy. Lee drew the prosecutor looking like a certain blind attorney and with Bruce Wayne sequestered someone has to keep Gotham City's criminal element fearful. Substitute Batman gave me a chuckle. Tom King solidifies his position as one of my favourite comic book writers right now.

 The Magic Order #2 - Mark Millar (writer) Olivier Coipel (art) Dave Stewart (colours) Peter Doherty (letters). This issue starts off with the origin story of Cordelia Moonstone and it's a hoot. She's one of the good guys but only because of family. When we jump back to the present, the evil magicians continue to kill the good magicians. This war with magic is a treat to read. I hope there's a variant cover for #3 because the one printed in this issue is super sexy and would shock some people.

 Old Man Hawkeye #7 - Ethan Sacks (writer) Ibraim Roberson (art pages 1 - 19) Marco Checchetto (art page 20) Andres Mossa (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Flashback 45 years to find out why Clint has a vendetta against the Thunderbolts. This issue is a great example of the difference between a comic book with a "Parental Advisory" warning and one with a "Teen+" warning. Showing what the bad guys do to the good guys during this super hero versus super villains fight would upset delicate sensibilities. I can't wait to see Clint get bushwhacked.

 Tony Stark Iron Man #2/602 - Dan Slott (writer) Valerio Schiti (art) Edgar Delgado (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). I don't know why Alexander Lozano (cover artist) swiped Steve Ditko's Amazing Spider-Man #33 cover for this issue since Iron Man doesn't even come close to being caught in this situation. There are a couple of mysteries that make me want to keep reading. One is something cryptic about Tony's resurrection and the other is an old character who shows up unexpectedly.

 Thor #3/709 - Jason Aaron (writer) Mike del Mundo (art) Marco D'Alfonso (colour assists) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). If you're sad that the wedding of Batman and Catwoman was called off, come on over to this comic book to witness Hela and Balder's nuptials. The War of the Realms in Hel has turned out to be a lot of fun. When they get to the part of the wedding ceremony where they ask if anyone has any objections to the union, you won't believe who does. There's a lot going on in this story and I can't wait to find out what happens when Thor goes knock, knock, knocking on heaven's door.

 The Immortal Hulk #3/720 - Al Ewing (writer) Joe Bennett (pencils framing sequence) Ruy Jose (inks framing sequence) Paul Mounts (colours except where indicated) VC's Cory Petit (letters except where indicated). I like this new creepy and eerie take on the big green galoot. This issue is called "Point of View" and is about four witnesses' accounts of what happened in a church during a hostage situation involving the Hulk. There's the cop's story with Leonardo Romero (art); the bartender's story with Paul Hornschemeier (art, colours & letters); the old lady's story with Marguerite Sauvage (art & colours) and the priest's story with Garry Brown (art). It's funny how attitude changes what people see. The issue ends in Vancouver, Canada (Hello, The Comicshop) with a call from Walter Langkowski AKA Alpha Flight's very own Sasquatch. Oh, and what a great cover eh?

 Avengers #5/695 - Jason Aaron (writer) Paco Medina & Ed McGuinness (pencils) Juan Vlasco with Mark Morales and Karl Story (inks) David Curiel (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Turns out this is "The Secret Origin of the Marvel Universe" so pay attention all you Marvel fans. This is so ridiculously over the top it's funny. Jason keeps ramping up the threats and the heroics with no end in sight. This reminds me of when Galactus first appeared. I want Jason Aaron to write a Ghost Rider book and a solo Loki book. If  David Curiel doesn't win an award for Best Colorist of the year he will be robbed. As far as super hero comic books go, this issue gets a 10 out of 10.

[3one3]

The Sequel - 862

Scudetto

André Schürrle, Juan Mata, other Chelsea/BVB players, and random awesome OC’s (okay they’re less random now but they’re still pretty awesome)

original epic tale

all chapters of The Sequel

Christina was keen on short veg-out sessions during transitions between the horsey part of her day and other plans. Her mind and body needed a reset period on most days. Usually it involved sitting in bed or on the couch and allowing herself to become fully absorbed in a deep dive into Instagram, or the news from around the world on her Twitter feed. Occasionally she flipped through a magazine, or took mindless Buzzfeed quizzes. So it didn’t surprise André to find her half sitting and half lying on her side on a pillow mountain in bed with her phone and some music when he went to tell her they needed to leave soon or they’d be late for their appointment at Ferrari, and probably get stuck in traffic too.

“Are you at least dressed to go?” he asked on his way across the room to join her. His tone wasn’t plaintive or concerned. His girl reacted like she didn’t expect him to be there. She began to turn around, and put her phone face down on the comforter by her legs.

“Yeah,” she yawned. André set himself on top of the comforter too, and leaned over to smooch her temple. “I just sprayed dry shampoo all over my head and I like to let it sit for a few minutes before I brush it out. It absorbs all the ickyness on my scalp or something.”

“It smells like cake.”

“I know. What time are we leaving?”

“Few minutes. Are you not excited? What’s with this music?”

“It’s called “Tethered”, and I like it, so shut up.” She fake-punched him in the stomach and glanced at her phone. The song was quiet, seductive, and packed with floating synth lines. It was moody, dramatic, emotional, and she more than liked it. There was no way she could even come close to being able to sing it, so she mouthed the powerful hook at her partner from her pillow. “Round and round in my mind, there’s a truth I can’t ignore. I spent so many years, wandering from myself until you came along. Yeeeeah, you got it. I have never needed nobody, nobody but you, nobody but you. Yeeeah, you got it. I have never needed nobody, nobody but youuu.” The thing was, she’d been lying there texting Juan, and thinking about Juan, and wishing she could be lying next to him with her head on his thigh while he did things on his laptop, like read those emails she was sure he got that told him about every cool or interesting thing happening everywhere in the world on any given day. That wasn’t what she wanted to be doing with her down time. It was what she craved nonetheless. It’s just because I miss him. It’s because I’ve had so little time with him lately, she argued while André watched her face and her eyes roamed up and down the trim on his oatmeal colored cardigan, where there should have been buttons.

“Is it new?” he inquired, thinking she silently sang the song to him because he was the one she was feeling emotional about.

“It came out in July. I like a few songs on the album. He has a beautiful sounding voice and he can do so much with it. My favorite one is like an 80’s pop song over an up-tempo Weeknd funk-ish beat. There’s almost something kind of Rick Astley about it.” Christina couldn’t help but laugh a little at the thought of the “Never Gonna Give You Up” singer. “I’ll put it on in the car. It’s fun.”

“Do you feel like fun? You’re smiling, but you seem...I don’t know. I know you like to chill and do nothing...are you just tired?” The player waffled on his impression. While it was normal for his favorite Olympian to relax and listen to non-dance or party music, her energy read as somber to him rather than calm or chilled out. He struggled to put that perception into inoffensive words, or match it to his belief that she was enjoying those lyrics as they related to him.

“We’re about to go shop for a Ferrari. How could I not feel like fun?” A no-teeth grin lit up her face and assuaged his doubt.

“What song will be the first you listen to in the new car when you get it?” The first song in a car is always so important to her, he remembered, recalling her stories about the first song from her first couple of cars and also the lengthy and out-loud debates she had with herself about what to play first in the cars they got together. It was particularly hilarious to him that the soundtrack for her first drive as a BMW owner- a major milestone in her life, and a big goal ticked off her list- was one hit wonder Petey Pablo’s easily forgotten “Freak-a-leek”, with impressive rhymes such as “Do you want it on the floor? Do you want it on the chair? Do you want it over here? Do you want it over there?” Christina claimed she just liked the bass and that her 330 had way better speakers than her old car.

“I don’t know. It’s kind of criminal to listen to music over a Ferrari V12.”

“You’ve ruled out all of the V8 cars already?”

“I told you. I want an f12tdf.” Why doesn’t he listen? I didn’t say to him “hey let’s go test drive all the Ferraris and choose one” when we talked about this on Friday. I said “hey I’m going to go order my f12tdf this week”. You can’t buy a car that costs that much money and not know which one you want. It’s not like picking out which trim level to get for you boring Honda minivan. I want a 6.3L V12, 7-speed F1 dual-clutch gearbox, the wider tires, the rear steering, the extra downforce, and all of the reluctant driver assistance programs that make it truly terrifying to drive. I want Dirk in car form. I won the medal and now I get the toy I want. You have to really want it. You don’t need a Ferrari if you don’t even know which one you want. Leave it for someone else.

“I know, but maybe you’ll like the convenience of the more practical ones,” André shrugged, none the wiser about her internal rant. “You already have a racing inspired car.”

“An old R8 with a bunch of aftermarket parts is not even in the same league as-“

“Okay, okay, calm down,” he laughed. Christina took a deep but subtle breath through her nose to prevent herself from responding according to her first instinct. “Shall we go? Ready?”

She nodded and went to the bathroom to brush out her refreshed hair, and to text Juan back. He was waiting.

“Give me a reason to visit soon.”

“G spot orgasms.”

“One I can explain to Schü.”

“He needs them explained? No wonder you love coming here.”

“Don’t. Not fair. Not nice.”

“Tell him the truth.”

“I’m not entirely sure what it is.”

“Chriiiiiiiis. Let’s goooooo,” André whined from the bedroom.

“Coming!”

“Yes you do.”

“Nah.”

“Yeah.”

“Ferrari time.”

“Tell them you want Sebastian Vettel to deliver it to you.”

“I don’t think my gold medal is important enough for that. I’d have to out-do Phelps or something.”

“We should go to Monza together.”

“Can you?”

“Yes.”

“Make it happen!”

“Todaaaaaaaay, pretty girl,” the German told his girl from the doorway with another hurry-up gesture. Christina chucked her brush on the vanity and stuffed the phone in her jeans. They told Lukas they’d be home in a few hours and headed out. The footballer did the driving because he didn’t like being on the road that long as a passenger. His co-pilot handled the soundtrack. In addition to the other song by her new favorite artist, she queued that “1000 Nights” song she thought about earlier, “I Like Me Better” (when I’m with you), and a bunch of other tunes the driver assumed where generally a reflection of the love she was currently feeling for him. The love and longing themes in the songs were actually invisible to her, or inaudible, as it were. She didn’t notice the current running through her selections. They were just new-to-her songs she picked up from various places recently, like the radio, Apple Music’s recommendations tab in iTunes, and a certain Chelsea player’s music catalogue. Any significance was lost on her.

André noticed, and assumed her musical mood reflected the meeting of her sense of closure on the Olympic dream, the ensuing emptiness and uncertainty about her next big goal, and a need for love and affection missed over the end of her busy summer. He thought she was unknowingly asking him to spend more time with her and be more close. A certain loneliness set in for him after his first Premier League title, and after his World Cup victory in Brazil and their little wedding and honeymoon. They got home and she went diving head first into the German equestrian team and he was expected to step up and be a big player at Chelsea after a shortened preseason. That was tough for him and he didn’t feel good inside, especially about missing Christina all the time when she traveled. He wanted to help her avoid the emptiness- the hangover from winning gold and silver medals. Happily, he could see and sense her excitement when they arrived at the showroom. Her heart being set on the limited edition track-ready model didn’t mean she wasn’t seriously looking forward to test-driving the full range of super cars. The player arranged for her to have a go in each and every one available, including some of the Maseratis offered by the same dealer. They were there for an experience, not just to buy a specific car.

And what an experience it was. The dealership and sales managers welcomed the Germany athletes with fruit-infused water and swag bags that included caps “just in case” they wanted to don some cover while testing out the topless California and 488 Spider. They built up through the range, sampling the “tame” V8 in the former and the classic, quintessential one in the latter. The footballer liked it best in that Spider, and the equestrian appreciated it more in the regular coupe. They were both curious about the practical 4-seater Lusso, just to see what a practical Ferrari was actually like. Both found it oxymoronic. Both believed a Ferrari should be ferocious and tremendous to drive, totally flash and stunning to look at, or both. That shooting brake style Lusso was neither.

Christina got most excited about the 812 Superfast- the platform upon which her precious f12tdf was built. Only 799 lightweight, more powerful, more extreme versions were built, and she knew none of them were at the Düsseldorf dealership for her to try, so the regular 812 was as close as she would get that day to experiencing “her” car. It was a sexy, sexy thing in white, with wheels and tires that completely filled their arches, the swoopy roofline of a classic long, wide bodied Maranello super car but edited just a bit at the back to give it that true GT silhouette and stance, the cleanliness and simplistic beauty of the front end, and the sculpted carve outs from the front quarter into the door and stretching upward all the way to the rear deck. The rear was perfectly balanced from exhaust tip to exhaust tip across the tidy diffuser and also bottom to top, where the two pairs of lights mirrored the pairs of tips underneath. Every angle offered something to feed the different senses and tick all the enthusiast’s boxes. The V12, beautiful in and of itself under the glass and derived from the old F12 Berlinetta, which was once one of the rider’s favorite racing cars, was tweaked to offer 80% of its maximum torque very low in the rev range, ensuring insanely powerful and consistent acceleration from even a stop or slow roll.

The power just kept coming, and flicking through the gears was so satisfyingly quick that the limitations of the road and traffic were devastatingly disappointing. Christina just wanted to put her foot to the floor and continue on until the car ran out of extra grunt to propel her forward. At the end of her stint, she struggled between wanting to remain behind the wheel and feeling desperate to shove André into the seat so that he could understand everything she said about it. She’d always wished she could hop off Dirk and hand his reins to her husband so that he could experience the same wonder, and that was impossible. That 812 was something he could share almost exactly the same way she did, and his smile was just as big after he enjoyed 5 minutes at the helm. His only lamentation about it was that he knew immediately how much his girl must have loved it and he didn’t get to watch that from next to her because the sales manager had to be in the car. He didn’t get to see her lose her mind over the wonderful and expensive toy. Luckily he had an ace up his sleeve that could give him that joy on Tuesday evening instead of having to wait until they actually owned one and could hit the road in it together.

“Would you like to walk around back into the service center for a look?” Nicolas, the manager of the whole dealership suggested after the sales manager replaced André in the 812 to return it to its prominent parking space in front of the showroom. The two athletes nodded that they’d like to see the cars being worked on. Christina loved to check out “naked” cars because she actually understood the components revealed, and she whispered to her shopping chaperone that there might be some interesting customer cars in for service, like a LaFerrari perhaps, which was too special and in-demand for the dealership to even have one on display. He wasn’t that excited by the prospect of spotting one since his club’s first-choice striker parked one at Brackel all the time. Driving the different models was more fun for him than simply studying them. “So the f12tdf is still the Ferrari for your heart, Chris?” Nicolas questioned.

“Definitely. I hope you can get us one,” Christina sighed wistfully. I know they haven’t all been pre-ordered and sold, but I know they aren’t exactly readily available, she reminded herself. I’m glad the regular 812 is amazing, because if I have to “settle” for that it would be totally okay. I thought it wouldn’t be worth it to do that. I love that thing though, she added, glancing back over her shoulder in the direction of the white coupe. White was her secret favorite color for most Maranello-built cars, but she always thought that it would be a shame to have “a real Michael Schumacher Ferrari” in anything but classic Rosso Corsa red- Italy’s official racing color, and the hue of all the Formula 1 title winning Ferraris including Michael’s, and Sebastian’s, hopefully. If they can’t get us a red one it would be okay, Christina thought. I don’t really love the yellow but I could live with it. White or silver or black is fine. It would be amazing to go to Monza with Juan IN A RED FERRARI. God, yes, she grunted silently in her head, thinking about the Italian Grand Prix in a week and a half. For a half-second she considered the prospect of taking delivery of her car at the factory on the Friday before the race, but realized that is probably the dream of many a Ferrari customer and impossible to arrange last minute, so she went back to the colors. She was also falling back behind the two men, and her blonde man slowed to put his hand on her back and urge her forward as they rounded the corner of the main part of the building. “Do you know how many of each color are left? Or are the remaining ones in the allocation not actually built yet so you can still choose paint?”

“Your husband thought you might like red,” Nicolas replied with a knowing and exceptionally warm and friendly smile as he stopped just a step or two from the sensor for the automatic garage door separating them from the service bays. He waited for them to catch up and then moved the few feet to activate the door, which lifted speedily to reveal a stunning Rosso Corsa f12tdf absolutely sucking up all the available oxygen in the vast, clean service department as the bright lights glinted off its hand-designed and crafted fenders. Christina’s eyes grew in sync with her chest as she tried to fill her lungs. She could see all the extra vents in the rear fenders, and a more aerodynamically aggressive front end greeted her with the same warmth as the Ferrari guy’s grin, but also with an invitation, like a challenge. An actual squeal came from her body once the surprise passed, and André and Nicolas laughed at her as she did a mini hop on her sneakers and hurried round the back of the car.

“This one is for you, Prinzessin,” the BVB man confirmed, just in case his sometimes-underestimating wife hadn’t figured that out.

“It was just delivered to us only an hour before you arrived, so we had time to clean her up inside and out but we haven’t done the mechanical checks and verifications yet or topped the fluids,” Nicolas added, building toward an apology. “You cannot take delivery today, I’m afraid, but we’ll have your f12 ready for you to pick up any time tomorrow- as early as first thing in the morning, if you like.”

André assured him that there was no need to hurry. He would bring Christina back in the afternoon, after training. She was already installed in the alcantara driver’s seat and working out the best driving position, which was difficult because of her size and the lack of infinite range of adjustability. André was not offended that she was in there pushing buttons and feeling textiles instead of hugging him for getting the car there for her. He knew it would come, just as he knew she wouldn’t change her mind about which one she wanted. His only worry between communicating with Nicolas on Saturday and that very moment in the service department was, as he said to Tim, that the Olympian would decide she didn’t deserve such a thing, or that the expense was too great and not worth it. He was fairly certain that she wouldn’t change her mind once the actual car was sitting there in front of her though. As he watched her wonderment through the front windscreen, he’d already forgotten that he thought it was a wasteful expense and that they didn’t need another fragile, impractical car for which they had no room- the arguments he made when Christina announced that she was rewarding herself with a Ferrari. She stressed that it was something she wanted to get for herself, and that she was going to pay for it. She wanted to sign the papers. That was important to her. The charter money from the boat was in fact all hers, since the boat belonged to her. He got the down payment from that fund and would let her sort the rest of the financing and paperwork herself, for her satisfaction. He knew exactly how good it felt to sign on the line for an expensive token and know that his hard work and talent paid off. She worked just as hard and was just as talented and seldom got the satisfaction of using a big chunk of her earnings to obtain something special or meaningful- not even any of her horses, and the boat didn’t really count because it was a gift. Unsurprisingly, her mind quickly turned to the price tag. She waved him over for a private word.

“Babe, can we afford this?” she whispered cautiously when he squatted inside the open door. There was no key fob in the car so she couldn’t drop the window. I have literally no idea how much it costs, she was thinking. It’s not published. I just read on Top Gear that it’s “at least £240,000”. What if it’s like half a million dollars?

“Yes, you can,” he whispered back, laughing. “I have the deposit check in my wallet from the corporate account. The rest you can pay monthly, or wire it all now from savings. Whichever you want. It’s cheaper to pay up front without interest, but it makes more sense to spread it out if you think you might want to trade it in in a few years, you know? Same as the others.”

“Yeah but how much is it?” Christina asked, feeling awkward and hoping Nicolas couldn’t hear her. He was talking to one of the service techs. The place was quite busy but she didn’t notice.

“About €340,000.”

“Wow.”

“You want to gift yourself, pretty girl, so it’s up to you. You really want it, right?”

She reached out to touch the black alcantara on the door next to him, and the red double stitching, and glanced over at the packed gauge cluster through the wheel. The tachometer was featured in the middle, flanked on one side by a digital speedometer and an array of other little gauges and graphics with systems data on the other. The car was off, so the rider had to picture it lit up from memory. In her mind it was practically a Formula 1 car steering wheel display. She momentarily imagined turning a knob to adjust brake bias, and then realized her wheel actually did have a knob just like the many packed onto Sebastian’s, for traction control settings.

“Yeah, I really want it,” Christina mumbled.

“So get it. Your car; your deal. I just called to make sure they could get you one.” André rubbed her thigh kind of idly and watched her eyes move around. He could tell her mind wasn’t made up. “You like the black interior, yeah? It’s right off the factory line so there was no choice. I think it was someone else’s order and they canceled too late. A blue one is coming available in a couple of weeks but it’s very dark, not like the Smurfy color.”

“I love the black. This is exactly what I would have ordered, probably. Actually I don’t even really know the options because I was afraid researching the car would ruin my chances of getting the medal. It’s so perfect...”

“Well come on out for a few minutes to do the paperwork and then you can sit in it again.”

“Okay. Help.” The rider let her considerate shopping date help her out of the very low car and the very grippy seat, empowered in her conviction to treat herself and not feel the least bit self-indulgent about it. Plus, she was secure in the knowledge that André wouldn’t encourage her to spend the money if they shouldn’t. He was even more responsible about money than she was, though they were still paying to maintain a large equestrian estate outside London and had no plan for what to do with it yet, largely because he couldn’t make up his mind. Christina actually really wanted to spend Christmas there, but there was nothing in the house- no furniture, electronics, towels, plates, pots, etc.

“Ready to add another fine prancing horse to your stable?” Nicolas asked the couple. Christina nodded and allowed him to show them through the work bays and the service department into the showroom and then the sales manager’s office. It took about 40 minutes and a call each to Tim and their financial manager to complete the purchase and registration documents. That was about 30 more than the BVB forward could comfortably tolerate, and he was eager to get a bite to eat somewhere nice in Düsseldorf before heading home. His wife was similarly eager to get home to eat with Lukas, but he did such a nice thing for her and she wasn’t going to make demands- at least not beyond holding up their departure for an extra 5 minutes so that she could go say bye-for-now to her new car and take a couple of photos. They went straight to Juan.

He congratulated her and suggested she drive the f12tdf to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix. He said she should meet him in Strasbourg on Saturday evening. It was about halfway between her and the circuit, or 4 hours or so on the motorway. He could fly to the charming old Alsatian capital after the match at Stamford Bridge, and they could spend the night there and then leave early in the morning for another 4-hour trek down to the historic home of the Tifosi. His Monday was a free day as well thanks to the international break, so they could take their time returning north along the French/Swiss/German borders and explore a little. Christina thought that sounded like an amazing idea, but not one she could say yes to. André would hate it.

She still wanted to go to the race though, so her counter offer was meeting him in Italy on Saturday evening with a car rented from the airport in Milan, staying the night, enjoying Sunday at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, and then departing Milan on separate flights Sunday night. The Spaniard negotiated for a second night there. His sometimes-girlfriend was firm. He accepted her original terms and said he would figure out how to book everything, which would be difficult so late. His only remaining point of debate was whether he should try to get regular general admission or grandstand seats, the generic Paddock Club package, or attempt to work one of his many connections to the paddock to secure them access as guests of one of the teams. IWC could help him out with Mercedes, for example, and Fernando Alonso for sure would have supplied McLaren credentials. Christina wondered if being a brand new Olympic medal winner, German international footballer’s wife, and very new Ferrari owner could be parlayed into an invitation from the “home” team to be their guest. Juan told her that finding out would be a job better suited to her agent, and promised to talk to him about it. They’d worked together on the Dirk video, so he knew how to reach him. She consented but asked him to wait until the next day to call, so that she could talk to André first. “Thanks for helping me get my dream Ferrari, and by the way I’m going on a Ferrari-themed overnight getaway with Juan next weekend” didn’t appeal to her as a topic for discussion at dinner.

Approved topics included where to photograph her new car, what shoes to wear when she drove it for the first time, where she was going to park it at home, and what to name it. Her sporting hero and favorite Ferrari pilot named all of his Formula 1 cars. His Toro Rossos were called Julie, Kate, and Kate’s Dirty Sister, the last of which inspired the genre of names adopted for his Red Bull Racing cars- Lucious Liz, Randy Mandy, Kinky Kylie, and Hungry Heidi. There was an Abbey and a Suzie mixed in. Abbey and Suzie were the least successful of the bunch. Abbey won a title but it was the closest of his 4 consecutive Championships, and Suzie was terrible. It surprised Christina that he didn’t revert back to the “sexy” names when he moved to Ferrari. His first red car was Eva, and she was disappointing. His second was Margherita, and only slightly better. The current car, named Gina, was currently leading.

“I have trouble reconciling the rearing black stallion with a female name,” she complained over a bowl of fettuccine with pancetta, roasted summer vegetables, garlic, olive oil, and a healthy dusting of Parmesan. There was no way they were eating anything but Italian that night. André really wanted to go to one of the many exceptional Asian restaurants there but his wife was having none of it, primarily because she was sick to death of even looking at sushi, smelling soy sauce, or watching people eat with chopsticks.

“I have trouble reconciling why people call it “the prancing horse” when it’s not prancing,” he shot back.

“Wanna hear something interesting?”

“Always.”

“Seb started naming his cars because American pilots did that with their planes in World War II. The Ferrari scudetto- the logo- comes from this Italian pilot who painted it on his planes during World War I. Apparently their air force didn’t have like separate regiments yet, so technically he and the rest of his squadron were still part of the Italian cavalry. Some say that’s where the horse comes from. Others say he saw a downed German plane with the horse on it, and that the plane actually had the emblem of the city of Stuttgart on it, because it’s basically exactly the same as the Ferrari logo. Now, follow along because this is really getting in the weeds. Stuttgart itself, the name I mean, is derived from Stutengarten, which means “mare garden”, which is the same as a stud farm. Scuderia, as in Scuderia Ferrari, also means “stud farm”, technically. Legend has it the mother of this Italian pilot asked Enzo Ferrari to put the horse on his racing cars for good luck. His first chance to do so was the 1932 Spa 24 Hours. He put yellow behind the horse to nod to his hometown, Modena, ‘cause I guess yellow is big there. That’s why the yellow paint is always called Modena, by the way, in case you couldn’t put that together. So he won the race and the “prancing” black horse on the yellow background with the “S F” for Scuderia Ferrari went on all the cars. Isn’t it kind of funny that Seb names his cars because American pilots put names on their planes and now he’s driving a car with a logo derived one way or another from the pilots and planes those guys were fighting?”

“Do you think he knows that?”

“Oh absolutely. He knows everything about Ferrari, I’m sure. He loves motorsport history, and he loves Ferrari.” Christina nodded emphatically and then twirled some pasta on her fork with a piece of salty pancetta on the bottom of the prongs.

“So are you going to give your car a name like Luscious Liz or like Gina?”

“I don’t know! I don’t like girl names.”

“You should call it Casper-Sky because you thought the sponsor was Casper-Sky like the ghost and clouds and not Kaspersky like the Russian cyber security company,” André sniggered. She knows so much useless but fascinating stuff like the logo story but she doesn’t know how to read the sponsor on Vettel’s car and suit and everything. It’s amazing. She didn’t know until Kaspersky was in the news because of the American elections. I remember her face when she heard it on the news and the light bulb went on in her head, he laughed to himself.

“You should shut up and eat your fish.”

[jenikkaluna]

The Country’s Nail Experts Arrives in Unimart Greenhills

Another milestone for Nailaholics Salon.

They just finally opened their newest branch at Unimart, Greenhills, San Juan. Yey for those who are from the area! It’s actually big compared to other branches such as SM Marikina and SM novaliches.

So I was invited to their official launch last week. And as expected, the place is really inviting. The concept of the place makes me feel so at home. Well I think that’s one of the main goals of Nailaholics --- to make its clients feel at home and relax.

And I think, everyone will agree with me that nothing ruins a relaxing trip or even an ordinary day to the nail salon than having your perfectly painted nails chip or smear after that final coat was painstakingly painted on. 

So here are some tips from the pros at the newly opened Nailaholics Unimart at Greenhills – to share how to extend the life of your mani/pedis—

• Make sure your nails are moisturized before getting your manicure. Hydrated nail beds cause less nail breakage and chips. • Always use a base coat before painting colour on. This protects your nails from staining and also acts as a great adhesive for the polish ensuring lasting colour. • Apply thin coats of polish with every stroke. It dries quickly and doesn’t cause bubbles. • Wait a couple of minutes between each coat to make sure the nail polish adheres properly to its base. • A horizontal swipe across the tip of your nails after your final coat, along the edge, seals the colour in and protects your nails against chipping. • If you’re rushing, dip your tips in ice cold water to harden the nail polish quicker. • To extend the life (and shine) of your manicure, apply really thin coats of topcoat every other day. • Be sure to wear gloves while doing the dishes—water expands the nail bed and causes nail polish to chip. • Cuticle oil helps freshen up your manicure and moisturize your hand. • Be careful when applying skin care products. Certain types can cause nail polish to dull and discolour like sunscreen and mosquito repellents.

Make sure to keep in mind these very helpful insider tips from Nailaholics’ expert nail technicians or better yet, get them first-hand when you visit Nailaholics Unimart located at the Mezzanine Level of Unimart Greenhills Shopping Center, San Juan City. To book your appointments today, contact 0956-846-2352.

[sfjazz]

SFJAZZ Collective, Remembering Miles, All About Jazz

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/sfjazz-collective-remembering-miles-sfjazz-collective-by-rj-deluke.php

By R.J. DELUKE

May 18, 2017

The SFJAZZ Collective has been operating since 2004. In the beginning, it may have seemed to some as just another all-star collection of musicians who strut their stuff for a while, then go about their own business. It has shown over time it is much different.

The format—eight outstanding musicians banding together to play the music of jazz icons, works hard at what the band was designed for: a leaderless, democratic group where musicians write arrangements that re-imagine works of the particular artist selected each year as the tribute showcase for the tour. They must also write and arrange a new piece each season. The band has a reputation as one of the fine touring groups. Some of the members, like founding memberJoshua Redman and saxophonist Joe Lovano moved on after awhile. But they were replaced by some of the finest individual players on the scene. And through a lot of serious work, they meld together.

The SFJAZZ Collective is currently comprised of alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon, tenor saxophonistDavid Sanchez, vibraphonist Warren Wolf, trumpeter Sean Jones, trombonist Robin Eubanks, pianist Edward Simon, bassist Matt Penman and drummer Obed Calvaire.

Each year, the band records a live CD that documents their outstanding concerts. People selected in the past to be the subject of the annual tribute include John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock,Thelonious Monk, Wayne Shorter, Stevie Wonder and Chick Corea, among others. The new CD, released in March, is SFJAZZ Collective: Music of Miles Davis & Original Compositions, Live: SFJAZZ Center 2016. It was recorded live in 2016 at the SFJAZZ Collective's home base, the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco. The two-disc album features new arrangements of the classic works composed by and associated with Miles Davis and new original compositions by collective members.

Each arrangement on the Miles side brings fresh interesting takes on the music. The solos are universally excellent. The band is tight. It bears repeated listening.

Davis' music includes "So What," "Milestones," "Nardis," "Bitches Brew," "Tutu" and more. The original tunes and arrangements don't take a back seat. They are engaging and present different approaches and textures because each springs from a different member of the band.

With the spring tour essentially done, All About Jazz spoke to trumpeter Jones and saxman Zenón to talk about the group.

Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Zenón is seen as one of the bright young talents, as a writer and player. He has nine recordings as a leader, including the Grammy-nominated Identities are Changeable. Earlier this year he released Tipico. As a sideman he has worked with jazz luminaries such as Charlie Haden, Danilo Perez, Fred Hersch and Steve Coleman.

Jones, an impassioned player with monster chops, tours regularly with his own ensembles and has seven recordings as a leader. He's played with a list of great jazzmen and spent some time with the Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestra. He is also a renowned teacher and has taught at Duquesne University, Oberlin Conservatory and Berklee College of Music. He serves as artistic director of both the Pittsburgh and Cleveland Jazz Orchestras.

All About Jazz: What do you like about the SFJAZZ organization?

Sean Jones: The best thing about being in the band is there is no leader. We all contribute equally to the sound of the band. We're all responsible for two pieces each season. It's special for me, because I enjoy being a sideman, but I don't like being a sideman with the idea in mind that I don't have a say in what's going on. This is kind of the best situation for me. I get to be a leader in the band. But at the same time I can play other folks' music and learn how they conduct themselves as leaders. So it's really fun, man."

Miguel Zenon: I've been with the band since the first year. There's a couple things about the group that make it really unique, especially in today's jazz world—we don't have an official band leader. It's great because we all take turns doing that, depending on the situation. We take everything to a vote. We make all the decisions collectively. Also we get to write a lot of music for the band and get a long time to work on that music, to rehearse it. So it opens the door to experiment and things, in terms of difficulty, that probably wouldn't happen in other circumstances.

It's my 14th season in the band. Speaking for me, I've been able to play with some of my heroes I grew up listening to and emulating their records and solos. I've been able to play side-by-side with them and learn from them and create a fellowship with this large group of people that have gone through the band. So for me, it's been a special experience.

AAJ: Must be fun to play in a band with these excellent musicians.

Jones: The other thing that's great is we actually have a pretty large amount of time to put the music together. Every fall we get together and rehearse for basically two and a half weeks. We play six to eight hours a day. You can really get tight in that amount of time.

AAJ: There's something to learn from everyone.

Jones: Everybody has something different that they bring to the table. Some people are really meticulous about what they want. Other people, like me, are kind of loose. I like to lead by corralling different ideas together and putting them into a concise thought. It's really nice.

Zenon: Something like this you can only take things from it. It's been an amazing experience for me, that's for sure.

AAJ: How much of a challenge is it for each of you to come up with tunes that you need for that season?

Zenon: Once you get in the flow of how the band works, you get used to the players and how it works in terms of the rehearsal period. We make the decisions collectively, so we even choose the composers we're going to focus on. Next year, people can choose their tunes, first-come, first-served basis. It usually flows pretty seamlessly.

Jones: I really enjoy that. And I know the cats can play whatever I write, so that's really nice.

AAJ: It's gotta be nice playing other people's charts as well.

Zenon: For me that's the greatest thing about it. It's great to bring your own music and get it played by such a high level of musicianship. But for me, I've always enjoyed playing with other people. That's kind of why I got into this in the first place. It's great to play with so many wonderful musicians, get to play their music and learn about their personalities, their concepts and approaches.

AAJ:This tour features the music of Miles Davis. Does that have extra significance for you, Sean, as a trumpet player?

Jones: Of course. Since I left Jazz at Lincoln Center, I've kind of found myself in many Miles tribute scenarios. The first one was with Marcus Miller's Tutu Revisited tour. After that, Terrence Blanchardand I did a tribute to Miles and his collaboration with Gil Evans. We did that a few times. Then I went on the road with Marcus Miller, Herbie and Wayne and I did another tribute. Now here I am with the Collective doing Miles.

Miles was the first jazz music I ever heard. In sixth grade my teacher gave me the record Kind of Blue and he also gave me Tutu. When I heard that, it kind of changed the trajectory of my life. Although I was pretty young. I was kind of a nerd. [chuckles] My folks wanted me to go into medicine or something like that. But Miles got me. I don't regret it.

Zenon: He's one of the great figures of this music, or any music really. He's one of the first musicians that attracted me to jazz in the first place. When I started getting into the music, it was his records that made me fall in love with jazz. So it's great to explore it. He's such a seminal figure, not only as an instrumentalist, but as a conceptualist, as a leader, as a composer. He dictated the direction of this music for many, many decades.

Jones: Also, as a leader I really like the idea that he chose people to be themselves. His band changed because he allowed musicians in the band to kind of put their own vision forward. That's what I like to do as a leader.

AAJ: [To Jones] On the CD, you arranged "So What." Was that fun for you?

Jones:It was a lot of fun. It was challenging, man, because if you do too much with it, it kind of takes away from what the tone is. The tune is pretty simple, and it wants to be simple. So what I tried to do is celebrate the answer to the bass line a little bit more than the bass line. The bass line is still there, but it's disrupted by the punches. I also took choruses of Miles' solo and created solos for the band. It was a lot of fun.

AAJ: You also did "Hutcherson's Hug."

Jones: I didn't have the opportunity to play in the Collective with Bobby Hutcherson, but one of my favorite stories is that he liked to start every rehearsal off by hugging people. So I thought that was cool. He wanted the spirit in the room to be right. I decided to write a piece based on that hug. It features Warren Wolf on the vibes.

Jones: [To Zenon] You arranged "Nardis." what was that process like?

Zenon: Once I pick a tune, I pick if for a reason. In this case when it came time to arrange the piece I was really into music from places in eastern Europe, especially the Balkans. Almost like gypsy music in a way. Bulgaria. Czech Republic. Places like that. I was checking out a lot of music that had this non-Western element to the melodies. "Nardis" is already embedded in the tune. It kind of called out to me. It kind of flowed in an organic way. I made it fit into what I was working with at the time. I was transcribing a lot of this music, getting into a lot of the phrases and the scales. I just put "Nardis" through the filter of all that folkloric music from those regions, to try to get something that made sense.

AAJ: And you wrote and arranged "Tribe."

Zenon: The arrangement process was very similar [with "Nardis"]. You're a couple steps ahead. You're starting with a tune that already exists. When you have an original, you have to come with a seed and then make that grow into a full tune. I've been doing this for a few years now, writing music that is very specifically written for this band. It grew out of this strong rhythmic idea that proceeds from the drum set and has a tribal feel to it. I made the whole tune grow out of that. A short rhythmic cell that finds itself repeated and reprised throughout the composition. I built it up that way.

AAJ: How is the fan support at the gigs?

Jones: It's great. Doing a live CD, you have home court advantage. We're in San Francisco. Each show was sold out. So that energy comes across on the record. But the music is also well received on the road. The band has such a wonderful balance of complexity, soulfulness, a lot of different rhythms. It's really a journey for the listener to check out the band. I think we found a really nice balance.

AAJ: Will you stay with the group for the next tour?

Jones: That's the plan, unless something else comes along. I'll probably be with the band for a little while. You never know with me. I don't like to stay in one band for too long. You can kind of get comfortable. But I'm definitely committed to sticking with the band for the foreseeable future because it's not a typical band. It's different every single year. Last year it was drastically different from this year.

Zenon: I'm extremely proud to be part of it. To be art of something that's been going on for so long. It's something to be proud of. It's such a unique situation. We don't know how long it's going to last It might go for 20 more years. I might go for three years. As long as we can keep this momentum going, it's something to feel great about.

AAJ: What's going on this year after the Collective?

Jones: I'm going to go back and finish the semester at Berklee College of Music. I'm the chair of the brass department now. While I'm on tour, I've been going back and forth to teach and take care of things with the department. I'm looking forward to the summer. Each person has different things... I'll be putting out a record on May 26, Live at the Jazz Bistro with my quintet. I'm really excited about that. We have a lot of summer gigs coming up for that.

AAJ: Your album this year, how is that going?

Zenon: Great. We did a long tour in the spring in the States. We have another one in Europe in the summer. And another in the fall. We're getting a lot of good feedback. I'm really happy about how things turned out.